About this project

$48,081

pledged of $20,000 goal

611

backers

Hello
Kickstarter,

We, at Beep Industries, would love
your help to ‘bring the button back’ with a new product we’ve made called Red
Pop – an
iPhone 4 accessory that adds a big, red, juicy camera button to your phone and helps turn your iPhone into a 'proper' camera.

Why we made Red Pop

We are huge iPhone fans and love the iPhoneography
culture that has grown around the product – so much so that, like many others,
we’ve stopped carrying our digital cameras with us and now use our iPhones to
capture and share photos of our everyday lives as well as big events like
birthdays, bake-offs and baby Joe-Joe’s first steps.

However, the experience of using a camera phone isn’t
perfect and snapping away isn't as easy or enjoyable as it could be.

It feels like something’s missing from the photo taking experience. As designers, it seemed to us that there was a simple solution to this problem - a button. Not just any button - a big, beautiful purpose built button. We love buttons - we think they're playful and inviting - they scream out 'c'mon press me.'

Red Pop brings that button back! The design is firmly rooted in the
now but with a subtle, respectful nod to the beautiful and iconic
cameras of the past. Made in brushed aluminum the design incorporates a
tactile textured plastic grip overlayed onto the metal barrel, and of
course a lovely big red shutter button.

Red Pop enhances the experience of taking photos on your iPhone and
gives it the feeling of a 'proper' camera. And whilst Apple's recent
announcement that in iOS5 (released in September 2011) the volume +
button will act as a camera button will work for some people, we also
know that there are lots of people out there who want the comfort,
stability and joy of a product like Red Pop.

How it
works

It's as simple as ‘Twist, Push, Pop’.

Just
Twist the barrel, Push Red Pop on to your iPhone dock connector and start to Pop
away taking pictures. Red Pop also allows you to shoot away like you would with
a camera, with less downtime between shots.

The
Red Pop app (which will be free and downloadable from the Apple app store)
fires up as soon as you connect Red Pop and the images you take will go
straight into your camera album ready to be Tweeted, posted on Facebook or
shared via your favourite camera apps. We will be talking to app makers about
integration with their apps and we already know we can integrate with Instagram.

Why is it
called Red Pop?

The
name pays homage to the father of Red Pop designer, Brendan Dawes. Brendan’s
dad was a larger than life, red headed sports photographer called John Dawes.

Growing
up Brendan was surrounded by cameras and the machinery of photography; crazily
expensive lenses sat in the hallway, unexposed film stored in the fridge and of course the products of John's work hanging from the
walls. Shots of Muhammed Ali, John McEnroe and the England Football team filled his
childhood home.

His
dad instilled in him the importance of capturing ‘the moment’ and that a split
second could mean this moment was gone and the opportunity to tell an amazing
story had been lost.

Red
Pop celebrates everything that John Dawes believed photography should be about
and we think it’s pretty cool that we’re able to put this project live on
Kickstarter over a period of time that will include Father’s Day (19th
June).

Where
we’re at

We have been working on Red Pop for the last 12 months
and are ready to push the button (see what we did there!?) on the first
production run if we get backed on Kickstarter. We have a working prototype
that has been developed within Apple’s MFI programme and we’re aiming to be
delivering Red Pop into people’s hands at the beginning of September (sooner if
we can).

The prototype shown in the Kickstarter video has a
brushed aluminium finish but you can see from the images in the film that the
final product design incorporates a gorgeous textured plastic grip overlayed
onto the metal barrel.

Red Pop will come with a wrist strap and a nifty
little protective pouch. We’ve also got designs for a whole bunch of
accessories including cases and tripod stands.

To date we have entirely self-funded the development of Red
Pop ourselves – from prototypes to patents - and we’re now hoping that the
Kickstarter community will help get us to the point where we can press go,go,go
on Red Pop manufacture. If we’re successful then we’re really looking forward
to sharing our Red Pop journey with everyone who supports the project.

At
the moment Red Pop has been created to work with iPhone 4. We’re ready and
waiting for iPhone 5/iPhone 4G later this year and Red Pop is designed to be
easily adapted for future iPhone versions as well as for other
smartphones.

We
design our own original products which we then make and sell; after-all there's
no point in thinking this stuff up if people can't actually play with it! So
far we've made MoviePeg, MIXA and of course now we are asking for
your help to make Red Pop. Every single
thing we make follows the Beep design ethos: simple and elegant objects that do
one thing really well.

Lots of people have helped us in the development of
Red Pop so far including our friend Aaron
Draplin, the Portland based Graphic Design master, our friends at
industrial design company called Meso,
UK Circuits and Matt at Daylight who
shot our Kickstarter film for us.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $75 or more
About $75

Consider your pledge a pre-order for one of the very first Red Pops, to come off the production line. Isn’t that exciting?! Your Red Pop will be made to the final design shown in our film and images and will come in a beautiful glossy box with a pouch for storing and a wrist strap. Shipping WORLDWIDE is included in your pledge.

You will also get your name 'in lights' and an image of your choice added to the ‘Thank You -You Rock! gallery’ on our Red Pop website.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $100 or more
About $100

You get all of the above (one of the first Red Pop’s off the production line and your name and image of choice in the ‘Thank You -You Rock’ gallery on the Red Pop site) PLUS a kick ass t-shirt or Baggu bag featuring our logo by Draplin Design Co. (hand screen printed by Wire and Twine, Ohio, USA for US backers or One69a, Manchester, UK for non-US backers). Shipping WORLDWIDE is included.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $150 or more
About $150

Consider your pledge a pre-order for one of the very first Red Pops off the production line. Your Red Pop will be made in the final design shown in our film and images. This version is extra special as it will be engraved with a ‘first run’ serial number and will be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

It will come in a beautiful glossy box with a pouch for and a wrist strap. Shipping WORLDWIDE is included in your pledge.

You will also become the proud owner of a T-shirt or a Baggu bag featuring our logo by Draplin Design Co. (hand screen printed by Wire and Twine, Ohio, USA for US backers or One69a, Manchester, UK for non-US backers).

You will also get your name 'in lights' and an image of your choice added to the ‘Thank You - You Rock gallery’ on our Red Pop website.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $500 or more
About $500

Everything you get for $150 plus a limited edition, never before released, print of the ‘Mohammed Ali at home’ photograph by John Dawes (father of Red Pop designer, Brendan). Printed on high quality 12' x 18' Lambda. It's a truly beautiful image and you can see it in our project details to the left.